A multimedia experience refers to the use of media in an interactive environment. The media generally include one or more types of information content, including for example, text, audio, graphics, animation, and video. During a multimedia experience, the media is presented to an end-user according to a logical sequence that can be affected by the end-user's actions.
A multimedia experience can be modeled as a flowchart that defines the logical sequence for playback of the multimedia experience. Such a flowchart generally consists of a sequence of linked cells that directly or indirectly reference media assets to be played by an application in a predefined order. The selection of which media referenced in the cells will be played can depend, in part, upon the choices made by end-users during each playback session of the multimedia experience. Flowcharts can be prepared by hand using pencil and paper or can be prepared electronically using a computer. Some software applications require a user to build a flowchart by drawing graphical shapes and then typing text into each graphical shape.
Often, during a playback session, the media referenced by several cells are presented to the end user in a coordinated manner, either simultaneously or in short succession of one another. In these situations, one cell is considered to represent playback of primary media off of which related cells representing secondary media are timed. In order to illustrate the dependencies between coordinated media, it is known to display the secondary cells on a side branch connecting these cells to the primary cell. The side branch may be visually distinct from other branches in the flowchart. This approach is disclosed, described and presented in related U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/038,527, titled, “Method for Identifying Cell in a Path in a Flowchart and for Synchronizing Graphical and Textual Views of a Flowchart,” filed on Jan. 2, 2002.
The timing and flow of the experience and the user's interaction therewith can be difficult and time consuming to establish. It is desirable to interact and modify the timing of the experience along a particular path within the experience in a fast and dynamic manner to produce and provide a multimedia experience. In order to produce and provide a desirable multimedia experience, there exists a need for tools, methods and systems to facilitate the modification and interaction with components of a multimedia experience in an efficient manner.